The Honduran government blames the killings on “routine street crime” and drug trafficking. With the world’s highest murder rate, that might make sense at first glance. Manuel Torres of the La Prensa newspaper, however, points out that the characteristics of the killings “suggest summary executions instead of common crime.”

In an interview, Torres told the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas that the use of illegal firearms, the participation of several suspects, the lack of robbery, the victims’ association with the opposition National Front of Popular Resistance, and the evidence of torture surrounding the deaths all contribute to an organized effort to intimidate critical journalism and opposition freedom of expression. The lack of prosecutions suggests a possible paramilitary operation that enjoys impunity.

“I don’t believe there’s a State policy ordering the killing of journalists and social organizers but that does not excuse the State from its responsibility for what happens,” Torres said.

By framing the insecurity as drug-related, Frank said, the government ignores the true economic roots of crime: unemployment. Honduras has an unemployment rate of 5.1% but nearly one third of the country is underemployed. “There’s barely a functioning economy,” she said. “Young people don’t see a future for themselves.”

Following the coup, the de facto government, led by Roberto Micheletti, was a pariah in the Western hemisphere and lost its membership in the Organization of American States. Some groups hoped that Honduras’ leaders could be forced into action if OAS member countries made re-entry conditional on the improvement of freedom of expression. Those hopes were dashed when Honduras was re-admitted to the OAS on June 1, 2011, without any preconditions regarding the press or impunity. President Obama even complimented President Lobo on his “strong commitment to democracy.”

While the Cartagena Accords allowed ousted President Zelaya to return to Honduras and the country once again counts itself as a member of the OAS, the five Honduran journalists killed so far in 2011, coupled with the rising threats, show that the country has yet to start a new chapter. Almost two years after the coup, it seems that little has changed since United Nations Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue lamented, “there is no freedom of expression in Honduras […] to criticize the de facto authorities or the coup d’état.”